Inspire. Discover. Engage. Act

to help make Dallas the city you want it to be.

In search of a progressive new future for Dallas

Let’s say it’s 2026, and you’ve joined me on the 23rd floor of my gleaming new apartment tower in the Design District — we still call it that, though the design types are mostly gone now — and we are gazing out from the 360-degree floor-to-ceiling windows at the city before us. Call it FutureDallas.

What do we see? How have our lives changed over the last decade? Is the city we knew so well even recognizable?

Mapping out a progressive new future for the city is the essential goal of the second annual Dallas Festival of Ideas, to be held Feb. 19-20 in Fair Park. Its theme, “The United City,” was inspired by Bishop T.D. Jakes, who gave the closing keynote of last year’s inaugural event in the Arts District. “We need a city that is united and galvanized around ideas that we can build to make a change and make things different,” he said.

Let’s return now to 2026, to that galvanized city where so much has changed. Looking out to the west, below the great white hoop of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, we find the Trinity Park we’ve long imagined, a playland of lush native grasses and ponds webbed by paths for cyclists and pedestrians. Thankfully, we don’t have to traverse a high-speed tollway to get to it. Instead, there is a curving — nay, meandering — parkway lined with plantings and trees, with stoplights and crosswalks at regular intervals.

Across that green sash is a busy new district, a dense cluster of low- and high-rise apartments and offices stretching from West Dallas across Oak Cliff. The unassuming charm of old La Bajada is intact, as is its native population — only now with a handsome new community center.

How about downtown? From our elevated perch, we can make out a streamlined bullet train easing into the city’s high-speed rail terminal. It’s on a deck over Interstate 30, and just by the new ballpark for the Rangers — the one with a retractable roof. (Maybe now they’ll win a World Series?) Later, we can walk over to the game, and maybe have a drink in the West End on the way. There’s a new museum there I’d like to check out.

Pedestrian-friendly

Walking everywhere is a lot easier. The sidewalks have been cleared of all that detritus that junked them up — utility poles, mismatched light standards, random signage — and more of them are canopied with trees and awnings. Thanks to the city’s Complete Streets program, crossings are now clearly marked and designed to prioritize people, not cars and trucks. The radiused corner is a thing of the past.

The future of Interstate 345, which connects U.S. Highway 75 and Interstate 45 but separates downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum, is among issues weighing on the city. (Nathan Hunsinger/Staff Photographer)

Those streets are busier than they have been since the 1950s: The new DART line helped with that, reanimating the southwestern core of downtown. You can now trolley all the way over to Bishop Arts. The Farmers Market is a scene. We could amble over there, and maybe stop for a coffee and sit for a while to people watch at Pacific or Carpenter parks. Both are popular with mothers pushing strollers, and kids enrolled at downtown’s new magnet elementary school — convenient for working parents, and a boon to the neighborhood.

In the afternoon, we can head up to Fair Park for a soccer tournament on the new fields there, and then stay for dinner at one of the cafes at the restaurant incubator and maybe a beer at the Magnolia Lounge. Putting a satellite college campus in the rehabilitated buildings along the Esplanade, and offering space to startups, have energized both the park and the area around it.

Depressing I-30 has done wonders in connecting the remade grounds to the community. And cleaning up the I-345 underpasses, and removing all of the road’s on- and off-ramp spaghetti, has fostered a healthy relationship between downtown and Deep Ellum. Maybe we’ll even knock the old highway down someday.

It’s a whole new Dallas. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

OK, now let’s return to 2016. Perhaps you’re chuckling, thinking I’m living in fantasyland, that my imagination has gotten the better of me. But know this: Everything you’ve read above is already on the table or in the works.

FutureDallas is a Dallas you can have.

Will it come at a significant cost? Absolutely. But consider the costs, both tangible and otherwise, if the city fails to deliver on these promises.

Consequences of inertia

What will life be like in that glassy Design District tower, the one with the floor-to-ceiling windows and the 360-degree views, if we continue to build one generic building after another, with no connective tissue and no civic amenities, over the next decade?

The prospects are dystopian, beginning with the bleak thought of construction crews pouring acres of concrete through the Trinity floodplain, building a highway where the public has demanded a park.

Libby leapt high at the North Texas Pit Bull Pride celebration at Main Street Garden. The park is the type of urban amenity highly valued by downtown’s growing number of residents. (Rex C. Curry/Special Contributor)

It will be no better to walk out the front door only to be greeted with the inhospitable streetscape with which we are all familiar: crumbling pavement leading to nowhere, the sun beating down without relief.

What amenities there are — the precious few acres of parkland, say — will seem ever more inadequate to demand pent-up over a decade of virtually unmanaged development. In just the last five years, the number of residential units built in the city has jumped every year, rising from 8,000 in 2011 to 38,000 in 2015.

Much of that building is cookie-cutter junk thrown up to turn a quick profit: shoddy apartments that promise amenities (gyms, party spaces, parking) and an urban lifestyle that they don’t actually deliver, because true urbanity is something more than a few step-climbers and a screening room you can reserve by the hour.

“The stock in Uptown bears more resemblance to what you would find in a suburb, and defeats the purpose of living in an urban setting,” says Daniel Shearer, a graduate student who chose a landmarked historic building downtown instead. He likes the bones of his building, the subtle details, the raw concrete floors and lobby finishes that give it character.

You can get a sense of that kind of urbanity if you walk out to Main Street Garden at around half past 7 in the morning, or “dog-walking rush hour,” in the words of Theresa O’Donnell, the city’s chief resilience officer and its former planning director. Last month, she moved with her partner and two children to an apartment fronting the park. “I see downtown as a neighborhood for families now, and my kids love it,” she says.

Personal connection

The promise of a metropolitan life, of walking to work and then out for dinner, is the draw that makes the compromise of living in a stacked shoebox worthwhile. But if the city fails to mature with those who are now making that choice, they will leave it.

“What I see now is a blossoming, vibrant scene. If I saw that reverse or start to decline, I would not make an investment downtown,” says O’Donnell. That her kids are home-schooled makes the lack of a neighborhood option less of an impediment, but in that she is unusual.

Nobody wants to come home from work to a dim garage, a generic hallway scented by industrial cleaner, and a lack of green space. Urban life is about commerce in the broadest sense, and that includes personal connection — not a sense of dislocation. And soon enough, the economy will turn, and then all the progress that’s been made over the last decade will dissipate, and the vision of what Dallas could have been will seem like a mirage.

Consider this alternate, dystopian scenario, suggested by Gail Thomas, director of the Trinity Trust: “Few citizens walk the streets because of crime. The underground tunnels of the center city carry workers to jobs and underground eateries. High-rise office towers house the population who utilize underground parking garages for their automobiles. In the suburbs, gated communities secure residents against unwanted visitors.”

That is not a United City.

The Dallas Festival of Ideas will take place Feb. 19-20, 2016, in Fair Park. It is free to the public. To get more information and register for the Festival, visit www.thedallasfestival.com.

Mark Lamster is a professor in the architecture school at the University of Texas at Arlington. He will be the moderator of the Physical City panel.

Last year’s ideas take shape

The plan was to do more than get wheels turning; it was to keep them moving. Now, as the second annual Dallas Festival of Ideas approaches, the ideas generated at last year’s festival are taking shape.

The 2015 festival prompted more than 400 ideas, whether offered in discussion groups, typed out on social media or scrawled on Post-It notes.

“Every one of them was looked at and considered,” said Emily Hargrove, executive director of this year’s festival. The event is a joint effort of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, The Dallas Morning News and CrowdSource, the News’ events division.

Action teams were formed, one for each of the five lenses through which the weekend’s keynote speakers, panelists and participants had examined the city — as a cultural place, an educated place, a political place, an innovative place and a physical space.

Each settled on one idea that a small group of volunteers could move forward with, mentored along the way by members of Social Venture Partners, an organization of philanthropists and entrepreneurs who offer time and business acumen to social enterprises.

The partners helped the teams prepare for presentations at October’s BigBang, an innovations-focused event for business, philanthropy, civic and nonprofit leaders held at Paul Quinn College.

“When you can keep five committees of volunteers working on a common cause over several months and have them present very beautifully onstage to an audience, that is very special,” said Social Venture Partners CEO Tony Fleo.

Here’s an update on each of the ideas.

The Innovative City

Action: To create a hyper-local, Kickstarter-style website to help address issues and needs.

The Innovative City committee sifted through many ideas, zeroing in on an overarching concept that could help bring many ideas and projects to life.

“We asked ourselves, ‘What’s the theme here?’” said committee member John Backes, founder of RealTech. “There was really a desire to see Dallas more connected and accessible.”

While some ideas had been quite popular — for instance, free WiFi, or creation of a “chief digital officer” for the city — the group wasn’t really equipped to pull them off.

“WiFi was very much a big thing, and [Dallas] needs to take notice of that,” Hargrove said. “But it wasn’t in [the action group’s] scope to make that happen. So they huddled around and said, ‘Well, what does the community need?’ And what came out of all the ideas submitted was, let’s create a website that’s a Kickstarter for the community.”

Team chair Kim Rice said the idea could be transformative for the city, and the judges at BigBang agreed, awarding $21,500 to the group to further its efforts.

“We want to build something that utilizes the community, and all its philanthropists and resources, to create something really new and innovative,” said Rice, a marketing communications professional.

Team members are focused on building the site’s infrastructure, and Social Venture Partners is still very much involved, offering resources and guidance and the freedom to spin off whenever the time is right.

“I know people who want to create dog parks, or to landscape the unusable area around Love Field,” Rice said. “There’s so many wonderful ideas, so many people walking around with a vision and people wanting to be part of these visions.”

The team hopes some of Dallas’ larger institutions will support the concept with matching grants.

Last year’s keynote speaker, author Luis Alberto Urrea, strongly advocated for the city to create a major book festival. But Cultural City committee members knew that multiple book festivals already existed around town, the biggest of them run by the Dallas Public Library.

“We would love to see them actually unite on their own,” said committee chair Erica Felicella, executive director of Art Conspiracy. “It would be a beautiful thing to see, but we’re not necessarily the right people to put it together.”

The library has since bolstered efforts to raise the profile and impact of its book festival. But Cultural City team members, highly involved in Dallas’ arts and culture scene, wondered how best to reach out to what they thought of as Dallas’ cultural deserts.

Their idea: a “Mobile Cultural Unit” that could be sited in communities around Dallas for months at a time. The vehicle will be a shipping container repurposed for the cause.

The approach will be twofold: to have an artist-in-residence design a work in conjunction with local residents and to serve as a base for community-driven projects such as dance or cooking festivals, “something that serves the actual population in that area,” Felicella said.

The Educated City

Action: To collect the stories of 10,000 North Texas teachers and use that information to create real data to assist superintendents, school boards and policymakers.

Committee members were fired up about the idea of collecting teachers’ stories but were feeling stymied, unconnected to the technology and infrastructure necessary to do so.

That’s when Pawan Jaggi stepped in. A partner at Social Venture Partners, Jaggi was also founder and CEO of Speetra, a technology firm that had exactly what the group was looking for — a means to rapidly collect and analyze teacher narratives via mobile phone, without the need for participants to download an app.

“My technology not only collects that data, it analyzes it for actionable insights which can turn into recommendations and results,” Jaggi said.

The project will first focus on Dallas ISD teachers, collecting data to share with district leaders. Participants will be sent a link via text where they can first watch an explanatory video introduction and then verbally answer prompts about their teaching successes.

Jaggi’s technology seeks keywords and trending subject areas, then produces infographics based on the data within a day. He hopes to be able to present data collected from several hundred teachers by the time of this year’s festival.

The Physical City

Action: To create a Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT, serving South Dallas.

With the forming of a so-called REIT, the committee hopes to decrease the social inequity between northern and southern Dallas by shaping the physical environment.

While housing development has occurred throughout the area, those projects are rarely accompanied by business developments, “so the money that is there doesn’t stay there,” said team chair Maria Schneider.

But South Dallas entrepreneurs looking to invest locally haven’t had access to capital, Schneider said, and she’s heard from many who would like to build in the area if they could just get financing.

Schneider and other Physical City team members are concentrating on the Cadillac Heights neighborhood in east Oak Cliff, expanding team participation to anyone interested and holding meetings in the offices of local businessman Larry Hollins.

“People are excited about the idea,” Schneider said. “It’s something that very specifically allows people to invest together on behalf of local entrepreneurs, instead of having a developer come in and reap all the benefits. People are saying, ‘Let me know as soon as you can take a check.’”

While she and the team work to define the organization’s legal structure, they’ve already formed a partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington. In the fall, two UTA professors conducted community forums to offer policy and planning guidance; a third professor will enlist her students to work on the project once underway.

In the meantime, the documents they’ve produced — a master site plan and a strategy plan — are being housed on the website of Terra Shelter, the affordable housing organization Schneider runs. The site will also provide a venue for communication between residents and UTA students working on the project.

“Like many other areas of southern Dallas, streets that were once vibrant have declined and the businesses along them have disappeared, taking with them jobs, retail amenities, access to healthy foods, and recreation,” Schneider explained in an email. “It was clear that elevating the local economy would have to start by reinstating commerce. There is no way to support a community internally by buying local when there are no shops.”

Florencia Velasco Fortner talked with Ta-Nehisi Coates (center) and James Ragland during a session on the Political City at last year’s festival. (Nathan Hunsinger/Staff Photographer)

The Political City

Action: To raise participation among registered voters from 7 to 21 percent.

Matt Houston, who chaired the Political City action team, was so inspired by members’ enthusiasm that he created HEAL Dallas to oversee its chosen idea. By fall, he hopes to air a series of nonpartisan public service announcements, noting the kinds of issues voters can help decide by casting their ballots.

“It’s sort of education,” said Houston, chief of staff for tech firm Beam. “There’s no agenda. We just want people to communicate with each other more.”

The Festival of Ideas, he said, “is the future of Dallas. It’s people who want to invest in our city and be able to innovate. Being in a room of like-minded individuals to create new ideas and make Dallas better not only helps businesses to stay relevant but the city to stay vibrant.”

The Dallas Festival of Ideas will take place Feb. 19-20, 2016, in Fair Park. It is free to the public. To get more information and register for the Festival, visit www.thedallasfestival.com.

Allums: We need you

A great city is never complete; it’s always a work in progress, which is why “now” is always the right time for new thoughts, new visions and dreams — in short, for new ideas. And we can be sure those new ideas are out there, waiting to be born.

We’ve designed the Dallas Festival of Ideas to be the ideal birthplace of insights that will take us into the future we want: innovative speakers from other cities as well as from our own, interactive sessions that will call for your involvement, performances keyed to stimulate the imagination — all contained in Fair Park, one of Dallas’ greatest venues.

The theme of this year’s festival is “The United City.” With all its diversity of passions, talents and interests, can a city become united? We believe it’s a worthy goal for Dallas — one we can approach only through bringing people together and giving them the opportunity to speak and to listen.

As in 2015, the Dallas Festival of Ideas remains committed to action. Even now, strategies and structures are in place so that the Action Phase can commence immediately after the festival ends. From Ideas to Action — and you can be part of the process.

Our five points of focus this year are the Educated City, the Entrepreneurial City, the Healthy City, the Literary City and the Physical City.

Plan to join us on Feb. 19-20 at Fair Park for “The United City: the 2016 Dallas Festival of Ideas.” We need your voice. Dallas needs your ideas.

Sincerely,

Larry Allums

Executive Director

The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture

Wilson: Come explore ‘The United City’

Every time we cast a ballot or take part in a public debate, we are effectively asking, “What kind of city will we be?”

One hundred and seventy-five years after its founding as a permanent settlement alongside the Trinity River, Dallas is unquestionably one of America’s great cities. And yet in many ways, it is still in search of a lasting identity.

Every time we cast a ballot or take part in a public debate, we are effectively asking, “What kind of city will we be?”

Will Dallas be a creative hub, nurturing its people through investment in arts and culture? Will it foster innovation or gamble that today’s thriving industries will still be here tomorrow? Will it grow physically in a way that connects or separates us? Will it create new generations of leaders and innovators by providing quality education?

These questions and others will provide the fuel for the second annual Dallas Festival of Ideas Feb. 19-20 at Fair Park.

The festival, a collaboration of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture and The Dallas Morning News, will feature conversations with entrepreneur Russell Simmons, author Anna Guillermoprieto and others, along with salons and performances meant to engage the mind and lift the spirit.

And the festival weekend is just the beginning. When it is over, participants will work together to implement the best ideas and effect positive change.

I hope you will enjoy this package of stories introducing this year’s theme, “The United City.” Please join us at Fair Park.

Sincerely,

Mike Wilson

Editor

The Dallas Morning News

Advertisement

The Physical City

The Physical City team will have as its focus “the future of work” in Dallas: What is the future of work in the 21st-century city? Are downtown and the suburbs in competition for workplace growth, or should they cooperate to find the right balance? What will the workplace of the future look like?

The Literary City

The Literary City team will consider these questions: How can literature in its various forms shape and define a city? How can a city write its own story and discover or create the elements aimed toward shaping its next chapter? What are barriers to participating in a literary culture? How do we expand interest in the literary arts, possibly through a Dallas literary arts festival?

The Healthy City

The Healthy City will address the question “What does the healthy city look like?” through the image of a wheel, with the hub as “access” and the spokes connecting this hub to three areas: a healthy lifestyle (health care and wellness in all its forms); healthy food and healthy eating habits; and mental health care.

The Entrepreneurial City

The Entrepreneurial City team will ask: What would it mean to suppose that Dallas could become known as a leading entrepreneurial city? What does it take to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem? Given the multiple stakeholders involved — corporations, universities, media outlets, incubators, etc. — how do individuals discover their roles in the system?

The Educated City

The Educated City team will ask: What does the educated city look like? What characterizes a citizen in the educated city in terms of these three categories: scientific literacy, cultural literacy, and race and class? How can Dallas produce more enlightened and engaged citizens? How can we increase access to excellent education for all?

The Schedule

The Dallas Festival of Ideas: Schedule of events Both the festival venues are in Fair Park. Fair Park Music Hall (above, left) is at 909 First Ave., Dallas. The Women’s Museum (right) is at 3800 Parry Ave., Dallas.

Friday, Feb. 19

Fair Park Music Hall

7 to 9 p.m. — Dallas Festival of Ideas Signature

The five cities are unveiled, with presentations of big ideas from keynote speakers Russell Simmons, Sarah Prevette, Dr. Jennifer Gardy, Alma Guillermoprieto and Nikil Saval. Interpretive artistic performances feature Jason Davis and his quartet, and So-So Topic and a visual collaboration from typographer Peter Wood; film by Andrew Holzschuh; and dance with Kimi Nikaidoh, artistic director of the Bruce Wood Dance Project.

Saturday, Feb. 20

Click a venue location to see its schedule of events:

FAIR PARK MUSIC HALL MAIN STAGE

Panelists are Russell Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam Recordings; Salah Boukadoum, founder of Impact City; Trey Bowles, co-founder of the Dallas Entrepreneur Center; Nina Vaca, chairwoman and CEO of Pinnacle Group; and Gail Warrior, founder and CEO of Warrior Group and Warrior Elements. Moderator is James Ragland, reporter and columnist for The Dallas Morning News. In partnership with Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts and the Dallas Entrepreneur Center.

THE HEALTHY CITY

10:30 to 11:45 a.m. — Headlining Panel: What Does the Healthy City Look Like?

Panelists are Jennifer Gardy of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control; Eric Bing, professor of global health and director of the Institute for Leadership Impact at SMU; Regina Montoya, chairwoman of Mayor Mike Rawlings’ Taskforce on Poverty; John Siburt, chief operating officer for CitySquare; and Dr. Seema Yasmin, health writer for The Dallas Morning News and professor of public health at University of Texas at Dallas. Moderator is Lauren Silverman, health, science and tech reporter for KERA News.

THE EDUCATED CITY

1 to 2:15 p.m. — Headlining Panel: What Does an Educated City Look Like?

2:30 to 3:45 p.m. — Headlining Panel: What Is the Future of Work in Dallas?

Panelists are Nikil Saval, editor of n+1; Kate Canales, director of design and innovation programs for Lyle School of Engineering at SMU; Peer F. Chacko, chief planning officer for the city of Dallas; Inga Saffron, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for The Philadelphia Inquirer; Ron Stelmarski, design director for Perkins + Will. Moderator is Mark Lamster, architecture critic for The Dallas Morning News. In partnership with the David Dillon Center for Texas Architecture of UTA College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs.

THE LITERARY CITY

4 to 5:15 p.m. — Headlining Panel: How Can Literature Shape and Define a City?

The Dallas Festival of Ideas will be closed with a message of unity and hope by Bishop T.D. Jakes. Jakes is CEO of TDJ Enterprises, founder and chief architect of MegaFest and senior pastor of The Potter’s House.

CLOSING PARTY (WOMEN’S MUSEUM)

6 to 9 p.m. — Beer & BBQ

Expect beer, local barbecue, music and conversation. Tickets are $30.

WOMEN’S MUSEUM AUDITORIUM

THE EDUCATED CITY

10 to 10:45 a.m. — The Future of Education is Now: Remaking Learning Environments of the Future

Panelists are Gigi Antoni, president and CEO of Big Thought; Ashley Bryan, director of planning and special projects for Dallas Independent School District; and Lisa Lovato, principal at DISD’s Dan D. Rogers Elementary School. Moderated by Byron Sanders, civic leader from U.S. Trust. In partnership with Commit! and Big Thought.

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CITY

11 TO 11:45 a.m. — Social Impact: The Role of the Entrepreneur to Give Back to the Community

Panelists are Catherine Cuellar, director of Entrepreneurs for North Texas; Tony Fleo, CEO of Social Venture Partners Dallas; Natalie Gonnella-Platts of the First Ladies Initiative of the Bush Institute; Brittany Merrill Underwood, president and founder of the Akola Project; and Debra Phares, senior vice president and market philanthropic director of U.S. Trust. In partnership with the Bush Institute, Communities Foundation of Texas Entrepreneurs for North Texas, Social Venture Partners Dallas, SMU’s Social Innovation Forum and the Dallas Entrepreneur Center.

THE LITERARY AND EDUCATED CITIES

Noon to 12:45 p.m. — DaVerse Lounge: An Open-Mic Experience for Middle and High School Students

What have leading medical authorities learned about concussions in the last 10 years? Panelists are Dr. Hunt Batjer, chair of UT Southwestern Medical Center’s department of neurological surgery and co-chair of the NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee; Dr. Munro Cullum, professor of psychiatry and neurology and neurotherapeutics at UT Southwestern; Dr. Kathleen Bell, chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at UT Southwestern; and Mike Singletary, Pro Football Hall of Famer. Moderator is Dale Hansen of WFAA-TV (Channel 8). In partnership with UT Southwestern.

THE LITERARY CITY

3 to 3:45 p.m. — How Can Dallas Attract and Retain Its Creative Talent?

Panelists are Joshua King of Aurora; Kimi Nikaidoh of Bruce Wood Dance Project; musician So-So Topic; and Will Richey of Journeyman Ink. Moderator is Dr. Zannie Voss, chairwoman and professor of arts management and arts entrepreneurship at SMU.

THE PHYSICAL CITY

4 to 4:45 p.m. — Smart City with Roots: How is Dallas Taking a Turn Into the 21st Century?

Meet a group of people who are passionate about innovative solutions to sustainability for our open spaces. Panelists are Jason Roberts, founder of the Better Block Project; David Marquis, conservationist; Jennifer Sanders, co-founder of Dallas Innovation Alliance; and Alaric Overbey of Vertical Life Farms. Moderator is Michael Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College.

WOMEN’S MUSEUM LITERARY STAGE

THE LITERARY CITY

10:10:30 a.m. — Getting Your Book From the Pile To the Publisher. How Do Aspiring Writers Get Noticed?

Literary agent David Hale Smith and J. Suzanne Frank, novelist and director of the Writer’s Path, will provide insight on what they look for in writers. In partnership with the Wild Detectives.

THE LITERARY CITY

11 a.m. — Sanderia Faye reading

The Mourner’s Bench author reads from her work.

THE LITERARY CITY

Noon — Reading Partners Spelling Bee

The competition is being held in partnership with Reading Partners, which aims to unlock the skills of students who struggle with reading.

THE LITERARY CITY

1 p.m. — Meet Maggie Mitchell

Maggie Mitchell, author of Pretty Is, will introduce and recite an excerpt from her thriller. In partnership with the Wild Detectives.

THE LITERARY CITY

2 p.m. — Bryan Adams Literary Club

See a presentation from the club.

THE LITERARY CITY

3 p.m. — Joaquin Zihuatanejo

The award-winning slam poet and teacher performs spoken-word poetry.

THE LITERARY CITY

4 p.m. — Best of Oral Fixation

Hear true-life tales from the Oral Fixation series.

WOMEN’S MUSEUM CENTRAL ZONE

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CITY

10:30 to 11 a.m. — Students Pitch Their Big Ideas — Which One Wins? You choose!

Students pitch their big ideas and audience members are the judges. Help decide who will walk away the winner of this pitch contest. In partnership with the Arts Entrepreneurship Program at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts.

THE EDUCATED CITY

11:30 a.m. to noon — Spark! A Creative Conversation: How to Inspire and Nurture Creativity in Children

The program featuring Beverly Davis, executive director of Spark!, focuses on how to inspire and nurture creativity in children. In partnership with Spark!

THE PHYSICAL CITY

1 to 2 p.m. — Public Forum: How Do We Define Urban Design For Dallas?

Panelists are Jill A. Jordan, Peer Chacko, Brent Brown, Evan Sheets and Arturo del Castillo. Moderator is Zaida Basora. In partnership with the city of Dallas.

THE HEALTHY CITY

2:30 to 3 p.m. — Living the Warrior360Way: A Guide to Health and Wellness in Today’s Busy World

Gail Warrior’s presentation focuses on finding balance in all aspects of your life and how to live a healthy lifestyle.

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL CITY

3:30 to 4 p.m. — Award-winning Interactive Game-based Workshop

The series of games and exercises teaches participants both hard and soft skills related to being proactive as an entrepreneur. In partnership with the Arts Entrepreneurship Program at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts.

WOMEN’S MUSEUM PERFORMANCE STAGE

Performances and the Literary Stage are curated by Public City, Journeyman Ink, and Dr Gorilla

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

In addition to keynote speeches from visionaries including rap impresario Russell Simmons, the Dallas Festival of Ideas Signature Opening features interpretive performances in a variety of genres — music by Jason Davis and his quartet, and So-So Topic with a visual collaboration from typographer Peter Wood; film by Andrew Holzschuh; and dance with Kimi Nikaidoh, artistic director of the Bruce Wood Dance Project. — Sara Frederick Burgos, Staff Writer

Jason Davis

A classically trained clarinetist known as the “South Dallas Mayor,” Davis is a saxophonist, composer, producer and educator. In addition to his performances with the quartet, he leads a 21-piece jazz band and performs regularly with Mahogany and the Jam Box. Davis manages a recording studio at the South Dallas Cultural Center and records and produces for various artists. In 2015, he was awarded the Jazz Innovator of the Year award by the Dallas Jazz Appreciation Month organization. Davis and his quartet will be joined by the jazz band from Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy in Oak Cliff at the end of the Friday night session.

Andrew Holzschuh

This Dallas-based filmmaker finds inspiration for his works through spending time outdoors and personal reflection. Using these seeds, he makes thought-provoking films in a variety of styles that kick-start meaningful conversations.

Kimi Nikaidoh

A dancer and choreographer, Nikaidoh has had a long relationship with the Fort Worth-based Bruce Wood Dance Project, having studied under Wood and performed with the troupe during her first five years as a professional dancer. The Dallas native has danced with various groups around the nation, including in New York, where she studied neuroscience and behavior at Columbia University. Now artistic director for BWDP, which commissions new works by nationally recognized choreographers as well as produces Wood’s celebrated repertoire, Nikaidoh is nurturing Wood’s artistic legacy to inspire audiences well into the future.

So-So Topic

Born Tommy Simpson, the spoken-word artist and producer leads the small collective of singers, poets and multimedia artists TeamFromNowhere. So-So Topic’s unconventional but accessible works touch on a variety of subjects, painting vivid scenarios of ideas, dreams and memories. Counting Erykah Badu, Lupe Fiasco and even Larry King among his fans, -topic, as he’s called for short, has begun work on his third studio album.

Peter Wood

The United Kingdom-born, Dallas-based creative artist, who has worked as a typographer, designer, art director, writer, photographer and marketer, is a co-founder of the Dallas-based JFK Unspoken Speech Project. After getting his start at several internationally known advertising agencies doing work for companies including Motorola, IBM and Volvo, Wood has lectured at art schools and universities in the U.K. and the United States.